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First residents move into Savannah Gardens

Steve Bisson/Savannah Morning NewsPamela Bost, left, and Kim Green help their relative Johnnie Mae Pollard move into her new home at Savannah Gardens.

Steve Bisson/Savannah Morning NewsJohnnie Mae Pollard thanks God as she enters her new home at Savannah Gardens.

The first residents of Savannah Gardens moved into their newly built homes Friday, about four years after the city of Savannah partnered with CHSA Development to redevelop the rundown, 45-acre Strathmore Estates on the city’s east side.

“It’s a blessing,” said Johnnie Mae Pollard, who was the first to make the move.

As her belongings were loaded into the moving truck Friday afternoon, Pollard, a Strathmore resident since 1999, said she was glad to be getting out of her apartment, which was surrounded by boarded up homes.

“Who wants to live with that?” she asked. “That’s not nice.”

Pollard’s new apartment, which she will share with her 12-year-old grandson, is an 1,100-square-foot unit with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a patio outside her back door.

Pollard’s apartment is one of about 200 units built as the first phase of Savannah Gardens, located west of Pennsylvania Avenue. The community will also feature single-family homes that will be sold at subsidized and market rates for residents with mixed income levels.

The apartments range from $219 to $757, depending on the residents’ income level.

About 80 families live in Strathmore, a community established in the 1940s for shipyard workers, said Sherell Harris, with the community’s management company, Mercy Housing.

“It’s time for the residents to enjoy something new,” Harris said.

Once all of the Strathmore residents on Pennsylvania’s east side are relocated, the next phase of the project will begin there. The development will feature about 550 apartments and single-family homes along with retail and landscaped parks.

In addition to the community’s current residents, applications for Savannah Gardens are being accepted for those who live outside Strathmore. Harris said Savannah Gardens’ residents must have a clean criminal background and meet annual income restrictions ranging from about $12,500 to $38,000.